


not easy

by hexmionegranger



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Threesome - F/M/M, idk what this is, like 3000 words of nothing and also some fluff, literally all fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 07:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8740879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexmionegranger/pseuds/hexmionegranger
Summary: Theo Nott needs help with his Ancient Runes homework. Hermione is suspicious. Alternately, what it feels like to fall in love with not just one person who you shouldn't, but two.





	

 

“Granger. I need your help.” 

Hermione had been sitting in the library, hunched over a pile of books and chewing on the back of a quill, and when she heard the quiet deep voice behind her she nearly jumped out of her skin.

She spun around in her chair with her wand already raised and the man behind her lifted both his hands in the universal sign for ‘don’t shoot’. “Nott. Don’t sneak up on me like that,” Hermione chastised. “We just fought in a _war_ for Merlin’s sake.”

Theo couldn’t help himself, he laughed. Hermione looked so put out and flustered and there was something about the colour on her cheeks that he was finding vaguely intoxicating. “My apologizes,” he insisted, and sat down at the table beside her. Hermione turned to face him and slowly lowered her wand, but didn’t put it away completely.

“I’ve heard that you’re top of the class in Ancient Runes. I’m struggling with this weeks translation and figured I’d ask your opinion.”

Hermione couldn’t help but narrow her eyes slightly at him. Theo was brilliant. Quiet, but arguably one of the most intelligent students in the school. She was probably above him in Ancient Runes, but it wouldn’t be by much. “What do you really want?”

Theo rolled his eyes but was already pulling his notes out of his bag, spreading them across the desk. He handed her a leaf of parchment and Hermione couldn’t help but glance down.

“There, see. You’ve made a silly mistake. You’ve forgotten that in texts from this time period the verbs are conjugated slightly differently, and it’s muddled up the entire sentence structure.” Hermione set down her wand and picked up her quill and made three quick strokes before passing the page back over to Theo.

He inspected it carefully, brow furrowed, and then nodded. “Cheers, Granger.” And then he turned and went back to his work.

Hermione was too stunned to mention that this was _her_ table, and decided she’d simply ignore him and everything would soon go back to normal.

* * *

Everything did not go back to normal.

Theo started joining her as she studied. Mostly he was quiet. Occasionally, he asked her quick questions or passed her long paragraphs for translation double checking. As the weeks passed, they started to greet each other and every once in a while Theo asked what her plans were.

Eventually, this morphed into conversations.

Life after the war was hard for both of them. Hermione was struggling with being back at Hogwarts without Harry and Ron, her anxiety was often so intense she felt like her blood was thrumming underneath her skin. Theo’s father (who sounded like a horrid person) was in Azkaban, and he often didn’t sleep well when he remembered what he had witnessed while trying to keep alive the year before.

One day, Theo spent ten minutes fidgeting with his quill and reshuffling the papers on his desk. Eventually, Hermione snapped.

“What’s wrong with you today? You’re a wreck.”

Theo sighed and looked up at her, and she could see the dark bags under his eyes. “It’s nothing.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. I spend hours with you every single day. I can tell when you’re stressed about something.”

Theo raised a brow, but didn’t immediately respond. “You have to promise not to tell anyone. I’m serious.”

Hermione shrugged one shoulder but nodded as well. “Who would I tell?”

“Right.” Theo paused, chewing on his lip briefly. “I’ve told my father I’m not marrying the girl he has chosen for me.”

It was Hermione’s turn to raise a brow. “Oh?”

Theo nodded. “It’s not that she’s not… I mean. We’ve always gotten along fine. But. Anyways. I told him that I won’t marry her because…” Theo trailed off, and Hermione gestured at him to say whatever it was he was hesitating about. “Because I’m currently dating Draco Malfoy and it’s entirely possible that I am in love with him.”

Hermione had not been expecting that, and thus her response was another undignified “oh.” Something in her chest sunk, just a little bit, though she was trying not to dwell on why. Theo was just a study buddy, not even a friend. She had no right to be disappointed that he was… what? Taken? Gay?

“Are you gay then?” She asked, and then gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth. “Sorry, that was probably, I mean… I don’t mind, is all.”

Theo looked down at his lap and Hermione could tell he was picking at the skin around his nails. He tended to do it whenever he got too stressed about something. She rather hated that she knew that. “No.” He replied, and looked back up. There was something in his eyes, something dark and heady and she did her best not to react. “No, I’m most certainly also attracted to women.”

“Oh.” Hermione was still at a loss for words, and all she could do was nod. “Well. I think it’s good, that you told your father. That you’re choosing your own future, rather than letting him dictate it for you.”

Theo’s shoulders seemed to soften just a little. “Do you mind… do you think… I don’t have anyone to talk about it with…”

Hermione couldn’t help herself. “Of course, Theo.” She had never said his name before and he looked just as surprised as she felt. “Of course.”

* * *

 

They spent the next few weeks studying and talking about Draco Malfoy. The blonde was also at Hogwarts, though he mostly kept to himself. He sat in the back of all of their classrooms, usually next to Theo, and went straight from class back to the common room. He often didn’t make it to breakfast or dinner, and it was even rare to see him at lunch.

He was scared, according to Theo, that someone was going to retaliate. That everyone blamed it all on him, and that they would find a way to hurt him. He was scared, Theo had confessed, because he thought he deserved it.

Hermione had never been a fan of Malfoy’s, to say the least. But there was something about the way that Theo explained him, that he talked through Draco’s thoughts and what he had suffered the past few years, that made him into something else. Theo did not excuse all of Draco’s behaviour, but he forgave it. Recognized that it was based in fear, that Draco had no choice most of the time. That he was stronger than even he realized.

It hurt, sometimes, to watch the way Theo’s face lit up when they chatted. Hermione still hadn’t placed a name as to why, and had decided she most certainly would not be doing that, if only because she knew why and she knew she didn’t want to admit it to herself.

* * *

One day, Draco had joined them in the library. He had barely said a word to either of them, kept his head down the entire time. Hermione did her best not to stare. She barely saw him these days, and hadn’t realized how different he looked. His cheekbones seemed sharper than usual, his jawline as well. He looked older, significantly, than he had the last time she’d seen him. He also looked like he had been through a war. Then again, they all did.

After a few weeks, it was no longer surprising when Draco sat down at their table. The first time he had nodded at her in recognition was odd, but she had shouldered through it with a nod of her own. The first time he had greeted her, with a quiet “Granger” had set her heart pounding, but she managed to respond to it with her own quiet “Malfoy.”

Soon, it felt just as natural to study with both of them as it had to study just with Theo. Draco and Theo sat close, but not too close. They looked at each other, every once in a while. Hermione caught Draco glancing at her sometimes, as if he were studying her face. She didn’t tend to notice when Theo did the same thing. Maybe, she told herself, she had just needed the presence of two men. She didn’t have Harry and Ron, and that’s why it was feeling so natural and normal to spend time with these two. Maybe that was why when Draco cracked a joke under his breath, she had laughed without even thinking it through.

“Are you going home for Christmas?”

It took Hermione a minute of silence before she realized that he had been speaking to her. They had had conversations of the sort, where both Draco and Hermione talked to Theo, and then kind of to each other. But she couldn’t exactly remember a time when Draco had asked her a question directly, and when she glanced up she found him looking across the table, sincerity painted across his face.

“No. I don’t really… have a home.” She explained. “I’ll probably just spend most of the break in here getting a head start on next semester.”

“Oh.” Draco thought about this for a moment and then looked down at the paper in front of him. “What about the wease- er. Weasley?”

Hermione frowned and also looked back down at her work. “I think I’m just going to be staying here.”

The truth was that she and Ron had decided earlier in the semester that they weren’t exactly meant to be together, at least not now. And that was fine, and she wasn’t even really that upset about it. But. She didn’t want to be at the Burrow right now, soaking in their sorrow and trying to avoid Molly’s insistence that she and Ron start planning their wedding. It was stifling, and right now she preferred the open spaces of Hogwarts. The solitude. Though, she couldn’t help but realize that she’d be lonely without Theo and Draco there. Once more, another feeling which she staunchly refused to analyze, and pushed it down to deal with at a later date.

* * *

Hermione didn’t have the chance to be lonely. She was in the library on Christmas Eve and when she heard footsteps and low voices behind her she turned quickly. Draco and Theo were standing behind her, each bundled up in warm wool coats and green and silver scarves, smiling down at her.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, standing to face them both.

“I was disowned.” Theo said, so nonchalantly it was almost like he was telling her he had eggs for breakfast.

“My father is in Azkaban and my mother has gone to the Maldives to _recuperate_.” Draco explained with a shrug.

“You shouldn’t spend Christmas alone.” Theo added. “Or, for that fact, in the library.”

“Put your coat on.” Draco instructed, and Hermione flushed as she glanced over to him. Frankly, it was lucky she even had it with her - but she had been thinking about taking a walk later and enjoying the fresh snow that covered the grounds of Hogwarts.

“Why?”

“Do you trust us?” Theo asked, and his voice sounded fragile all of a sudden, like it did when he had told her about Draco.

Hermione thought about it, but the answer was so strong and overwhelming that she surprised herself with the ferocity of her response. “Yes.”

After pulling on her coat and wrapping her scarf around her neck, Draco and Theo led the way out of the library and she followed after them. The odd party headed outside and then down towards the lake, and came to a stop at its shore. Theo stood on one side of her, and Draco on the other, and as odd as it was, she felt safe and warm between them.

“Will you tell me why we’re out here now?” Hermione asked, looking up at Theo and then over at Draco. They were both taller than her, and beautiful in their own ways. Draco’s beauty was sharp and pale, his skin glittered like moonlight and his eyes were often fierce and determined. Theo was darker, with thick black hair and a broad jaw, and his eyes were dark but no less intense when he needed them to be. Occasionally, when she was unable to stop her mind from wandering, she thought of them as fallen angels. Broken boys who’d been thrown into unfathomable circumstances, whose wings had been clipped and tied down. In the shimmering light that reflected off the lake and the snow, she still wasn’t entirely sure that was wrong.

Theo turned towards her and pulled a small box out of his pocket, and reached out to hand it to her. Hermione’s cheeks flushed as he put it in her hand. “Theo, you didn’t have to… I mean. I didn’t get you anything. I…”

Theo looked over at Draco, who was also watching her now with an unreadable expression in his eyes. “It’s from the both of us.” He explained. Hermione shook her head and stepped back just a little, and Theo and Draco both seemed to move simultaneously until they were standing should to shoulder in front of her.

“I really don’t think…” Hermione began, but Draco cut her off.

“Open the box, Granger.” He said. Hermione couldn’t help but shoot him a small glare, but it held no malice and he only quirked his lips in a small smirk in response. Taking a breath, Hermione pulled the lid off the box.

Inside was a stunning necklace. A simple gold chain leading down to a pendant which was glinting magnificently in the light. Hermione nearly gasped as she caught sight of it. A gold heart encrusted in small diamonds surrounded a large shining emerald. It was beautiful, and looked incredibly expensive.

“Theo,” she said, shaking her head. “Draco,” she looked up at the both of them now, searching their faces for answers. “I don’t understand.” She admitted, settling her eyes on Theo, as he was the one she had spent more time with.

Theo looked quickly at Draco, who nodded, and then back at Hermione. “I am in love with you.” He admitted, and Hermione’s heart slammed into her throat, pounding against her sternum and pulling a gasp from her lips.

Something inside of her was screaming, cheering. She wanted to throw her arms around him, and yet. Hermione glanced back over at Draco and was shocked to find him still with that small smirk on his face. Like his boyfriend hadn’t just admitted that he was in love with someone else. Like that someone else wasn’t his childhood enemy.

“I…” Hermione shook her head, swallowing, and tried to search Draco’s eyes for more answers. “But aren’t you…”

Draco slid a hand down and caught Theo’s, and suddenly looked more vulnerable than she had ever seen him. “I am, as well.”

Hermione was still shaking her head at them. She had no idea what was happening - her brain was still sluggishly caught on Theo’s declaration, and it was taking all of her willpower not to say something she would regret. “You are what?”

Draco rolled his eyes - she suspected it was only mild exasperation. “Honestly. You’re supposed to be the smartest witch of your age. I am in love with you, as well.”

Hermione closed her eyes now, trying not to cry. None of this made any _sense_! The worst part was that whatever it was that was so thrilled inside of her at Theo’s declaration (her heart, she supposed, the traitorous thing) seemed even more elated at Draco’s confession. “I don’t know what’s happening.” She said, and hated how weak her voice sounded, hated that her lip was trembling, that she was nearly crying.

All of a sudden arms were around her, a warm body pressed against her front. And then, after a moment’s hesitation, another body against her back. “Hermione, please don’t cry,” Theo whispered, lips close to her ear. “We didn’t want… we didn’t mean…”

“I’ve been in love with you for years.” Draco’s voice chimed in, the noise in her other ear now. “And when Theo and I decided that we were going to make a go of it, of being together, I told him about you. About… why I love you. And why I’ve never been able to _stop_ even though it was horribly inconvenient at times.”

“And I had to see what it was about you that made you so special. I mean,” Theo scoffed quietly. “I knew how brilliant you were. But you were also so annoying, always putting your hand up and knowing the answer before me.  “But then…”

“Then he fell in love with you as well.” Draco picked up the explanation. Hermione inhaled deeply and nearly melted. They smelled incredible. One of them smelled fresh and minty, pine trees and new growth and the muted smell of the world after a storm. The other was deep, rich and smooth, old parchment and new ink bottles and fire crackling in the hearth. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, electric against them, and she hadn’t felt this comforted since before she had lost her parents. Like she could close her eyes and be safe, like they would fix whatever it was she needed.

“And we had a discussion, and the thought of… of not getting to be with you… We thought we at least had to try. But we know,” Theo laughed, but it wasn’t his usual deep one, it was strangled and almost scared. “That this is asking… a lot. We know we’re not good men, and besides, you probably don’t feel the same way. But it’s Christmas, and you deserved to know the truth.”

Then, slowly, they untangled themselves from her and stepped away and Hermione almost cried “no!” at them, but she had always been disciplined and she managed to restrain herself. “You want to be with me?” She clarified, looking from one to the other, and finally realizing that the emotion she hadn’t known before was vulnerability and adoration. “Both of you?”

Theo nodded, and Draco seemed to be trying his best to not say anything else.

Hermione took a deep breath and considered. She wanted to think through it all rationally, to figure out if this was an absolutely terrible idea that she should immediately reevaluate. But, for the first time in a long time, the small voice inside her was telling her to go. To leap, to give in. That everything would be alright.

“It’s not going to be easy.” She finally said.

It was Draco’s turn to look confused. “What?” He asked, but Theo was grinning now, from ear to ear, and Hermione realized that she could only now grasp the full extent of his beauty.

“You’re mad.” Theo exclaimed, and then dropped Draco’s hand and caught Hermione up in his arms. He hesitated for just a minute before Hermione leaned forward and pressed her lips against his and he closed his eyes as he took her in, in awe of the fact that this actually all might _work_.

When Hermione broke the kiss and glanced over, she found Draco watching them intently. He didn’t look upset, or jealous. In fact, there was a heady look of attraction in his eyes that sent a shiver down Hermione’s spine. Theo let go of her, and gently turned her towards him, and when Hermione reached out Draco moved quickly to close the space between them and capture her lips in his own.

Hermione pulled back and looked over at Theo once more, only to find the same look in his eyes. “I meant it, when I said it wouldn’t be easy.” She pointed out, as he stepped up to press his body into hers again. Hermione scanned his face as snowflakes began to drift down and land on his cheeks and eyelashes, wanting to be absolutely sure this was real, and happening, and that they were in it with her.

Theo laughed and kissed the back of her neck, and Draco pressed his lips to her forehead and mumbled against them. “Granger, you never were. Why start now?”

**Author's Note:**

> Just a lil fic I wrote to celebrate hitting 300 followers on tumblr! Hope you like it! :)


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